The field of application of the invention is the industrial sector dedicated to the manufacture and/or installation of kitchen equipment, such as food slicers, food processors, etc.
Persons skilled in the art are aware of the existence, in the current state of the art, of a wide range of devices and machines normally used in industrial kitchens and designed for food processing-related operations such as cutting vegetables, grating bread, emulsifying food products and other operations of a similar nature. In general, known machines essentially consist of: a motor block which houses a driving means, such as an electric motor; a lid element that closes the lower base of the motor block; a rotation axis that projects vertically through the aforementioned lid and which moves a cutting disk; and, a food processing accessory, the structural characteristics of which depend on the specific application for which it is designed. Therefore, said accessories may consist of a bowl-like container having an access lid and a blade in its interior (cutter-type machine, grater, etc.). Usually, in the case of cutting machines, the accessory may include a component for inserting food which may be connected to the aforementioned lid of the machine, having a mouth feed chute integrated with said food introducing element, where through the food is inserted towards the cutting disk while it can be forced with the help of a pushing device manually by the user. Naturally, these machines normally include safety and control devices that only allow operation of the machine when the different components thereof are in their respective operating positions.
In accordance with the foregoing, it is understood that the machines currently available on the market carry out certain specific functions such that, depending on the specific type or model of machine used, they can be performed with widely varying effectiveness and results. The present invention constitutes a substantial improvement in the operating and functional capabilities offered by current machines. The present invention is equipped to provide different functions depending on the accessory used by the user at a given time.
In this regard, the proposal of the present invention consists of a food processing machine that can be referred to as a “combined” machine, given that it allows the possibility of changing the accessories in a simple, fast and safe manner, thereby enabling the execution of different processing operations in accordance with the accessory used at a given time.